More Sub-Forums?

[Osvir]

Scouring through the forums of old to get a bigger picture of what we have been discussing here I started "collecting" all threads into one thread and categorizing it. Quickly found out we are talking about quite a lot of categories, I've "compressed" them together here to lessen the numbers but here goes:

 

General Forum about Project: Eternity; About the World/Lore:

* GENERAL/LORE-ISH/WORLD/QUESTS/NPC/INTERVIEWS

 

Player Sub-Forum; About the Player:

* CHARACTER/PLAYER/COMPANION/PARTY/RELATIONSHIPS/STRONGHOLD/DIALOGUE/INVENTORY/SKILLS/HEALTH

 

Enemy Sub-Forum; About the Challenge:

* BOSSES/COMBAT/AI/EXPERIENCE

 

Gear/Equipment; About the Tool:

* WEAPONS/ARMORS/CLASSES/RACES/MAGIC

 

About Beauty, Song and the Illusion:

* GRAPHICS/ART/MUSIC

 

Modding; About Technical Tidbits:

* MODDING/TECHNICAL/MULTIPLAYER/GAME OPTIONS

 

What do you think? Thoughts?

[.Leif.]

I think they all work more or less but I would call Modding Technical instead. I don't recall anywhere it being posted that mod support is in the game for sure. I would like to be proven wrong here but we may not be able to assume mod-support on release day.

 

Splitting the PE forum up a wee bit more does make sense.

[Osvir]

I think they all work more or less but I would call Modding Technical instead. I don't recall anywhere it being posted that mod support is in the game for sure. I would like to be proven wrong here but we may not be able to assume mod-support on release day.

 

Splitting the PE forum up a wee bit more does make sense.

 

I have no idea if its going to be in or not. Not really assuming, just (personally) objectively looking at what is being discussed.

[Monte Carlo]

ROMANCE FORUM FTW

[Osvir]

Haha, as much as many would love it there seems to only be about 20~ threads about it in total, hardly enough to grant itself an entire forum imo.

[Tamerlane]

Posting is nowhere near frequent enough to require more subforums.

[-Zin-]

Optimizing the forum is cool with me.

 

Not on the top to do list, but in the future I wouldn't mind seeing more threads posted in the right categories.

 

Mmm, systemizing and diagrams....

[Osvir]

Posting is nowhere near frequent enough to require more subforums.

 

Depends on how you look at it bro, for future archiving I'd suggest that Obs make more sub-forums because in a week or two everything you see on the 1st Page will be on the 3rd-4th Page and everything will be messed up and no one will ever see those topics that could've made a better game, the first topic might be about Romances, the second about Fighters, the third one about Story for that Quest, the fourth one is Romances again. With corresponding Sub-Forums that follow proper Categorizing you'll instead see that all topics fall (ideally) automatically into their rightful place. Ideally, all Player-related topics would be in the Player related Sub-Forum, Weapon and Armor topics would be in the Weapon and Armor related Sub-Forum etc. etc.

 

But you are right, I've felt the posts actually become less and less frequent just these 2-3 last days. One naive part of me says that discussion on each of these subjects (in my OP) would grow to something more if they were Sub-Forums (deep diving into the gameplay/mechanics and so on and so forth, instead of "Generally" discuss gameplay/mechanics, we are only scratching the surface).

Edited November 9, 2012 by Osvir

[Monte Carlo]

This forum is now as dead as disco, which is cool as it sorts out the men from the sheep. No offence to any New Zealanders here, naturally.

[Frisk]

There will probably be more forums added in the future.

 

1) Obsidian had said that once the pledges got sorted out, they would set up a (closed) forum for those in the $1000+ tiers.

 

2) When the beta is released, I would not be surprised to see a special forum for discussing the beta - probably limited to those with beta access.

 

3) Once modding becomes a possibility, I would expect to see a special modding forum.

 

4) When the game is actually released, I would expect to see a number of new forums for support, strategy discussions and a number of other things.

 

Right now, however....meh...I don't think there is any need to change anything.

[mcmanusaur]

Honestly I think it's strange that they bothered to create a subforum for mechanics but not anything else. If you ask me it's meant that mechanics have gotten less attention (people are likely to just browse general discussion), when mechanics are one of the main things to discuss during development.

[Tale]

Mechanics already has 1/5th the activity of General and you want to spread it out more?

[Hassat Hunter]

Most mechanic discussions are hold in general anyway.

 

I don't mind, I use recent posts anyway instead of using the forums itself

[Pshaw]

I've got to say this forum is pretty slow moving. Nothing is getting knocked back further than the 2nd page that's seeing any activity so I don't think it's really needed.

[Jasede]

ROMANCE FORUM FTW

Ah, but if you ever post in it you may never post anywhere else again. Call it romance camp. You know, like a summer camp, but for romance.

D'ohoho!

[Osvir]

It is true what you all say, call it my own "map awareness" if you will.

 

It's just a hypothetical guess really, that we could benefit by having more sub-forums. "General... what should I write?" is a common thought (It is a pretty broad subject.. the "general" one that is) I've got tons of ideas but little motivation, confidence or inspiration (personally) or specially sense of direction to take, just having a sub-forum called, per say, "Magic" would make me feel more inclined to write about Magic thoughts, ideas, suggestions, speculations etc. etc. in the Magic Forum (specially if I'm a new member being presented to this "interface", one risk is that it could seem intimidating if it is too much)

 

I guess itt could be a suggestion in preparation for the $1'000 Backer Tier Closed Forums (I'm not by the way).

[Kore]

Too many subforums are a mistake made too often in communities. Even in communities of a million + members you do not need to have exponentially high numbers of subforums.

 

In this forum there is not nearly enough activity to warrant splitting up the forum. If you split it up further then you'll end up with several dead forums instead of one active forum and overall activity will be lower than if you had split it up. There is no merit to calving off romance discussion from all other discussion if there isn't enough romance discussion to populate a sub forum of it's own. You are just needlessly segregating it from other discussion so it gets fewer and fewer views which is detrimental to romance discussion rather than beneficial.

[Monte Carlo]

I want my own sub-forum where all the Real Gaemers could hang out.

[Osvir]

This, is probably the best inspiration and you'll see what I mean:

http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/index.php

[nikolokolus]

I find that it's a lot easier to keep track of things the less time I spend clicking through sub-forums and the more I just use the search feature. Else, why spend all of that time and energy tagging topics?

 

I'm sure once the game releases we'll see a few more added (technical, hints and tips, modding, etc.) but a sub-forum for discussing specific topics, like magic, is beyond overkill.

[Osvir]

I find that it's a lot easier to keep track of things the less time I spend clicking through sub-forums and the more I just use the search feature. Else, why spend all of that time and energy tagging topics?

 

I'm sure once the game releases we'll see a few more added (technical, hints and tips, modding, etc.) but a sub-forum for discussing specific topics, like magic, is beyond overkill.

 

I agree with this. I'm just trying to be as objective as possible. I asked my dad about how they communicate at their job when there's changes and/or ideas for improvement and it just sounds like a professional, fun and awesome method, that's where I'm coming from.

 

"A thread for Magic awesome!" or "A thread for General, hmm I wonder if there's any new interviews out".

 

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/62194-respectful-discussion/page__st__20__gopid__1274220#entry1274220

My dad works at one of the (actually the) biggest newspapers in Sweden and I asked him about some tools they use when they communicate. They are a business with about 500 employees and believe that communication is a part of success. How can those methods be applied to here?

 

Step 1, The big brass (5-6 people) they only want money, they are happy as long as the charts on "sales" show "Better better better" (Obsidian does not have a publisher or investor that stresses them in this way, so they can relax about that)

 

Step 2, To make the company grow the brass needs to build ideas and have orders in the ways of "We want a new product". But before the product is made they hand out envelopes on "How can we do this best?" they hand it out to perhaps 1 (Mid-Boss) people in the next chain of line.

 

Step 3, My dad told me they entered this big theatre hall, one guy on stage, everyone gets a random number, and gets sorted into random groups.

 

Step 4, In their random group number they get sent to a room where they discuss this idea and everyone gets to say what they think and feel about it (no matter how crazy or off-topic it may be).

 

Step 5, At the end of the discussion everyone has to say 1 good thing about someone else's idea (This means that a Topic Starter needs to "take care" more of their own threads, like the Speaker in a political debate, or summarize if it's a long thread every now and then. Perhaps when no one replies to it anymore ask everyone what everyone thought was good in each others ideas *shrug*)

 

In another Thread I speak about "More Sub-Forums". My implication is that if a Sub-Forum would be titled "Magic" it could correspond to Step 4

Edited November 10, 2012 by Osvir

[Osvir]

I think this is a very important read in that sense Update 30. Now specifically with Sub-Forums in mind, take a look at the graph.

 

EDIT: Linkage fix

Edited November 10, 2012 by Osvir

[Kore]

I am a professional community manager. I run forums for a living and while communication is undoubtedly a major factor to success the way a community interacts with itself and the business behind it can't be compared to chains of communication in a business.

 

The most important factor to remember is that community members are generally in it for the intrinsic enjoyment of using a community whereas in a business the incentivisations are much different and are often extrinsic. In general terms community members like communicating for the sake of it and if it becomes boring then they will leave; employees are required by contract to communicate so they react very differently to situations.

 

I agree that community <-> developer communication is important though, I agree there.

[Osvir]

I am a professional community manager. I run forums for a living and while communication is undoubtedly a major factor to success the way a community interacts with itself and the business behind it can't be compared to chains of communication in a business.

 

The most important factor to remember is that community members are generally in it for the intrinsic enjoyment of using a community whereas in a business the incentivisations are much different and are often extrinsic. In general terms community members like communicating for the sake of it and if it becomes boring then they will leave; employees are required by contract to communicate so they react very differently to situations.

 

I agree that community <-> developer communication is important though, I agree there.

 

I guess this is where the Premium forum comes into play.

 

Regardless, I do want to communicate as if I was an employee (even if I'm never going to be, don't put too much weight on the wording/e.g, take it with a grain of salt) because with that mindset I can loyally think for the best of the company, community and the game in a way together with each other, and I am flirting with and curious about, if there is a way to make it more effective on a whole for everyone. Looking at your post count I think that you might come to the same conclusion when you've been around further (There are some genuinely bright, professional minds on this forum whether they , realize it or not). This is also something that the top brass of my dad's company says: "Together we work the best"

 

I'm just thinking "Hey, Wasteland 2 is using something similar to what I'm thinking and they seem to have a pretty steady activity" and if a business model could work on a forum of decency and respect, which we have here, as well as it works for the intrinsic audience. I think that community <-> community communication is super important regardless what kind of forum it is about. The most important thing on this planet in my opinion is: Let's be friends (because everything becomes so much better~)

 

I am one of those passionate fools by the way haha.

 

Also, try finding your way through this document of what we have discussed, how easily do you find the good stuff from the bad stuff? Where is the topics you want to discuss?

 

These .pdf files are the entire forums from September 11th to November 9th in Chronological Order. This is what has been discussed (sorted Day by Day) up until now. I started categorizing all of the threads (see signature for "Collection of Threads" or OP) and started to get a bigger picture of what an entire game could look like.

 

E.G. The Bigger Picture. Classes, Weapons, Enemies, AI, Challenges, Quests, Lore and so on and so forth. I had a bigger sense of what the game could be about and I have a bigger sense now what the game is about than I had before (Knowledge is Power, I follow the ideology that it shouldn't be guarded, if genuinely wise and true for everyone as a whole)

obsforumdiscB.pdf

obsforumdiscA.pdf

[IcyDeadPeople]

Scouring through the forums of old to get a bigger picture of what we have been discussing here I started "collecting" all threads into one thread and categorizing it. Quickly found out we are talking about quite a lot of categories, I've "compressed" them together here to lessen the numbers but here goes:

 

General Forum about Project: Eternity; About the World/Lore:

* GENERAL/LORE-ISH/WORLD/QUESTS/NPC/INTERVIEWS

 

Player Sub-Forum; About the Player:

* CHARACTER/PLAYER/COMPANION/PARTY/RELATIONSHIPS/STRONGHOLD/DIALOGUE/INVENTORY/SKILLS/HEALTH

 

Enemy Sub-Forum; About the Challenge:

* BOSSES/COMBAT/AI/EXPERIENCE

 

Gear/Equipment; About the Tool:

* WEAPONS/ARMORS/CLASSES/RACES/MAGIC

 

About Beauty, Song and the Illusion:

* GRAPHICS/ART/MUSIC

 

Modding; About Technical Tidbits:

* MODDING/TECHNICAL/MULTIPLAYER/GAME OPTIONS

 

What do you think? Thoughts?

 

 

All we really need are separate subforums for spoilers and tech support, perhaps another for modding, but until the game is released none of these is necessary.

 

Splitting the forum up into so many arbitrary sections at this point, long before the game is in beta, will only result in duplicated discussion topics. We have already seen a lot of duplicated topics with the separate Gameplay & Mechanics, Widgets & Bytes and General Discussion sections. Fragmenting the forum even more would be a mistake in my view.

Edited November 10, 2012 by IcyDeadPeople